German NOC Hoping to Avoid Munich Referendum Repeat

(ATR) The German Olympic Sports Confederation says public support is key to deciding between Berlin or Hamburg for an Olympic bid.

"It will depend on the public mood whether we will reach a definite decision," DOSB chief Alfons Hoermann told a Berlin news conference after an executive meeting Thursday, according to AAP.

German Olympic officials are keen to avoid a repeat of Munich’s 2022 Olympic bid rejection in a referendum last November.

"We don't want and won't have a scenario like Munich - deciding on a city and then being red-carded," Hoermann said.

The DOSB said consultation with representatives of civil society on the pros and cons of hosting the Olympics was necessary to the process.

"We will initiate a series of talks from which we expect whether it can come to an agreement of society as a whole, carried by sport, politics, economy and citizens all together," the DOSB quoted Hoermann as saying.

National federations, including talks with the German Football Federation (DFB) about its likely bid for Euro 2024, were vital, the DOSB’s leaders told media. The DOSB’s decision would also be based on the approval of the population, the international political climate and outcomes from the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020 discussions.

"In the end, we have to decide the time and the city," said DOSB director general Michael Vesper. "It is important to realize that we stand at the starting line of a long process with the clear goal of bringing the Games back to Germany. If we decide on 2024 already we have to tell the IOC in autumn 2015."

Hoermann told reporters that the DOSB may not make a decision on Berlin or Hamburg at the DOSB general assembly on Dec. 6 but next year; the Olympic Agenda 2020 process is not scheduled to be concluded until Dec. 9. And it may not back either city for a bid.

The DOSB board has received answers from Berlin and Hamburg to a 13-item questionnaire about a possible bid for the 2024 or 2028 Games.

A DOSB spokesman tells Around the Rings that on Thursday ExCo members "had the first reading of the answers, with more to follow."

"DOSB will offer additional workshops for both cities in order to deal with open questions to enhance further positive developments," he said. "Next steps will be discussed at the next meeting of the board on October 28."

On Friday, a Hamburg senator laid down the challenge to Berlin’s bid leaders by proposing a "pedestrian and bicycle" Games and said if the port city is not backed for 2024, it will run for 2028.

"I think bidding for the Olympics is not a sprint but a marathon. I think it is smart to start bidding for 2024 and if not successful to bid again for 2028," Michael Neumann said in a Reuters interview.

"We are ready to commit ourselves to two bidding processes. We want to show that we take it very seriously," he added.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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